COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Southeast Missouri baseball (31-14, 20-5 OVC) dropped game one of its three-game series at Tennessee Tech (24-19, 11-11 OVC) Friday evening by a score of 7-2.
 
The Redhawks were outhit in the game 11-7. Trevor Ezell powered the Redhawks offense as he put up three hits including a double, and scored one of Southeast's two runs.
 
Redhawk starter Joey Lucchesi (8-4) pitched six complete innings in his start. Lucchesi allowed six runs, only four were eanred, on 10 hits. Lucchesi came off a 17-strikeout performance a week ago and struck out 10 Friday. He now has 208 in his career, moving him into fourth on Southeast's career strikeouts list. He has 115 this season, which ranks third on the single-season list.
 
Michael Wood (3-2) picked up the win for Tennessee Tech. Wood pitched seven and a third innings, allowing just one run on four hits. He stuck out nine Redhawks and walked just two.
 
For the fourth game in a row, Ezell got on base and scored in the first inning. Ezell doubled off the right center field wall to begin the game. He advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Dan Holst and scored on a groundout to third by Branden Boggetto, putting Southeast on top early, 1-0.
 
Back-to-back two-out singles in the bottom of the inning put a pair of Golden Eagles on. Trevor Puzig doubled down the right field line, scoring one runner and tying the game. The final out of the inning came at the plate on a relay from Chris Osborne to Ezell after the double by Putzig.
 
The Golden Eagles plated three runs in the third inning to take a 4-1 lead on Southeast. A wild pitch with bases loaded gave TTU a 2-1 lead. With two runners still in scoring position, Kevin Strohschein doubled to right center, scoring both runners and going up 4-1.
 
A two-run home run by Strohschein in the bottom of the fifth extended the lead to 6-1.
 
Strohschein hit his second home run of the game in the bottom of the seventh, his fifth RBI, to widen the lead to 7-1.  
 
Down six runs, the Redhawks weren't going down without a fight in the ninth inning. With two out, Daniel Costello knocked his third home run of the season over the wall in right; 7-2 TTU. Back-to-back hits by Ezell and Holst put runners on but the late offensive push was snuffed with a flyout to left.
 
Holst put up two hits in the contest. Boggetto and Costello rounded out the Redhawk offense with a single hit apiece.
 
Strohschein finished 4-for-4 with five RBI and three runs scored. Putzig was the only other Golden Eagle with multiple hits with two.
 
The Redhawks and Golden Eagles will face off in game two Saturday at 2 p.m. from Cookeville.